About

Hi I’m Shawn Smith!

I grew up near Detroit and made a temporary move to the Spider Lake/Traverse City area
to take some classes at Northwestern Michigan College in the winter of 1991. Upon waking, my second morning in February, I was lying in bed on the second floor looking out the window half asleep. All was white when a black squirrel was spotted down and about thirty feet away bounding across a split rail fence. The fence had about six inches of fresh snow and each time the squirrel would jump it would knock some snow off the fence to the ground. The morning was still except for this black squirrel on a pure white landscape. It was like a living painting. I watched this for about thirty seconds and realized at this moment that this is where I belonged. And, here I am today sharing my good fortune with others looking for that special getaway.